The boat that carried the 32 participants left the port and floated into the island entrance.
From here, everyone would take a raft and row onto the island.
Some rowed in from further away to hide their group’s movement.
While others rowed in confidently, as if challenging others to come at them.
Dylan Marken’s group of 15 people was definitely the second type.
“It’s all going as Ruin predicted.”
“That’s a relief. I was worried about what would happen to my honour as the leader if my first order was wrong.”
As expected, the 15-person group landed on the dock closest to the Central Village.
They showed their intention clearly, as if saying, ‘We’re going there, so don’t come near us.’
The situation was also flowing in their favour.
“Ugh. They’re swarming like that over there. How can we even approach?”
“Let’s go land somewhere else.”
“……”
As Dylan’s group moved in a swarm, no other team dared to land too hastily.
This was the same for Doom Prime.
“Doom… He hasn’t gotten off yet?”
However, I knew what he would do.
“No. He’ll leave soon. Definitely.”
Doom had a burning desire for victory and recognition.
For him to catch the attention of the ‘Fire King’ that he so wished for, he needed to be a little reckless.
This went on as expected.
As soon as the 15-person group was out of sight, Doom moved onto his own raft.
The way he headed was Central Village’s dock.
“……He got off.”
“Yes. He purposely got off late to catch the 15-person group off guard.”
Irene stared at me.
She asked in a tone that carried her intense curiosity,
“But… how did you predict all this?”
“I just thought of what I would’ve done in their situation.”
“……”
What would I have done?
For an individual to go up against multiple people, this was the best strategy.
Doom knew this too.
Irene smiled lightly, a little bit impressed.
“Seems we’ve at least chosen our leader well.”
“Ehm. Let’s hear that type of praise after we win the game.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Well, should we also go?”
“Yes.”
Seta, Irene, and I.
Us 3 boarded a raft and moved towards the West side of Battle Island.
However, my eyes weren’t on the island, but rather on the boat behind us.
I was checking the paths of the students leaving later than us.
And…
‘One team landed near us.”
There were 5 people.
I confirmed that they were moving towards the small base that was closest to us.
I smiled in my heart.
‘Come get us. We’ll be waiting.’
* * *
As soon as we landed on the island, we only took enough water to quench our thirst a little and started moving swiftly.
We found the occasional fruit trees and wild animals, but I didn’t pay them any mind.
At that, Seta asked me, a bit worried,
“So Ruin, I don’t have any intentions of going against the leader’s will, but shouldn’t we also get some food?”
“We can’t.”
“Why?”
“We need to arrive faster than any other team.”
The place we were heading to was the western side of Battle Island.
In return for the western side being bountiful in food from wild animals and fruit trees, there weren’t any special residential zones.
If we wanted to spend the night in the West, we needed to camp out.
But since the surroundings were too open, there weren’t any places to hide either.
On top of that, it was weak to night raids from others, so we needed to only grab some food and move straight towards the outskirts of the middle area.
This was merely a small depot.
The place that we arrived at while in this situation,
“We’ll wait here.”
The only road that led from the western zone into the middle of the island. All the people that landed on the western part of the island had to cross through this point.
That was why we had to hurry.
To control this point before anyone else.
To wait for the others that would pass by.
I looked at our surroundings and patted a sizable tree.
“On top of a tree should be better, right?”
“Aya……! If it’s here, I think you could see anything that comes close.”
All 3 of us climbed on top of the tall tree and took a rest while sipping on our water.
“Seta, you know how you asked before if we needed to get some food?”
“Eh? Yeah?”
“Why should we do such a tiresome thing?”
I looked toward Seta and laughed mischievously.
“We just need to take it.”
Seemingly satisfied by the word ‘take’, Seta smiled and his morale was ignited.
“Oh ho… So you’re saying we’ll take everything?”
And so, an hour passed.
After burning with morale and saying, ‘I’ll take everything!’ Seta’s expression tired.
“Ruin,”
“Hm?”
“I just thought of something. If these guys don’t come for us and stay the night camping in the West, what do we do?”
“……”
Naturally, this strategy also had some ‘exceptions’.
Such as them not moving as I predicted, towards the center, and choosing to ‘camp out’ in the western region.
Then what could we do?
“Well, we’ll just have to starve for a day.”
“What? Ha, hahaha……”
At my blunt acknowledgement, Seta could only laugh.
However, if it went as predicted, someone would definitely pass through here today.
Why?
“Look over there.”
Boom—! Bang—!
Just in time, an explosive sound boomed out from the direction of the center of the island.
“Wh-what the hell…?”
“……”
Seta stood up in shock, and Irene, who was leisurely resting under the shade, opened her eyes.
“Wh-what just happened? Was that magic?”
“What do you mean ‘what’? There’s a fight going on.”
Whether a huge fight or a small scuffle occured between magicians, it became known to everyone at once.
Even with just the sound of the magic exploding, you could tell how many people were fighting.
Even now, the explosion that shook the ground and the black smoke rising into the air was clearly visible.
In this situation,
“Seta. If you saw this situation, what would you do?”
“Hm……? If it were me, I would immediately go where the enemy is.”
“That’s right. It’s one of two options. Either they move towards the explosion to try and get some kill points, or use the confusion of battle to sneak through, towards a safer place.”
There was no one who would make a fire and camp out in this open area.
Unless they were idiots, they would go look for a building.
This was the Grand Festival.
Naturally, there were no idiots.
There were about 20 vacant lodging areas on Battle Island.
These buildings provided students with a safe and comfortable rest.
Even now, people were moving about to look for these places.
“……They’re here.”
There were no exceptions.
I clenched my fists as I looked at the 5 individuals who entered my sight.
It was the people I noted just a moment ago when we left the raft.
* * *
A 5 vs 3 fight.
Even if we had the overpowered Irene Prius on our side, they were also representatives of their respective schools.
This was a fight that I couldn’t take lightly.
That was why we started with an ‘ambush’.
“These punks. I really waited for too long.”
Seta Malkiri started to pour out magic after being frustrated that he couldn’t fight for over an hour.
“Wh-what?”
“Ambush! It’s an ambush!”
Boom! Ba-ba-bang!
An ambush in this wide-open area.
On top of that, from a tree that was out of their sight.
There was no way they could’ve expected a magic attack from such a place.
“Ack……!”
The student who was walking at the front was hit by the metallic spear cast by Seta.
He fell over backwards after being hit by Iron Spear.
“Nice! This is it!”
The feeling of hitting something. He hadn’t felt it in a long time.
Seta looked really excited as he started to cast another spell, and the gap in timing was filled by Irene.
“……”
She clapped her hands with an empty expression.
Clap!
The palms expelled intense magic power while also exuding a bone-chilling cold, and the magic instantly filled the surrounding air and froze the sky.
5th-Class Ice Magic,
Blizzard.
The frozen sky poured out a huge snowstorm, sharp sleet and ice fragments flying around and piercing the enemies.
“Eya, Irene. So that fame of yours wasn’t for nothing! To be able to cast such high-level magic without breaking a sweat!”
“……”
I 100% agreed with what Seta just said.
It was truly fearsome magic that made me want to not do anything and just watch.
However, I couldn’t just sit and spectate.
“Euk! Kak! I-it’s Irene Prius! There are 3 people over there!”
The other side were definitely powerful magicians too.
Seemingly having confirmed their numbers advantage, they protected themselves with Barrier Magic and two other magicians spread out, away from the Blizzard.
It became a situation where 5 people had surrounded our tree.
“Everyone, fire!”
Magic attacks were poured out on us in an instant.
Finally, it was my time to make a move.
“Hap!”
I jumped down from the tree and charged into the back of one of the magicians.
“You dare!”
However, having predicted I would appear, he blasted me with a wave of air and made some distance between us.
They had definitely understood my specialty and had prepared in advance.
Then, how about this?
“What the……?”
“H-he disappeared.”
Bend Time.
Woosh—! Swoosh—!
After my speed was increased by over 200%, it became hard to even track me with the naked eye.
After instantly vanishing from their sight, I charged towards the back of one of the magicians and kicked their shin.
Crack—!
“Kuak!”
The magician flew into the air, somersaulting, and fell on his back.
I cast my strongest spell, intending to eliminate one of them right here right now.
Mana Burn Explosion.
Voong voong.
On my fist, mana substituted by my strength started condensing in a red light.
This mana started to radiate a thick ‘smell’.
Having identified my spell, the students went pale.
“Mana Burn Explosion! Dodge!”
However, he could not dodge.
“Where do you think you’re going, you bastard?!”
Bam! B-b-b-bam!
Multiple metallic spears flung by Seta Malkiri pierced his feet.
Simultaneously,
“See you later.”
“Ah, Aaaaa……”
Bam!
My fist detonated the catalyst.
Explosion magic that produced intense heat.
Mana Burn Explosion.
This wave of fire seemed to swallow everything, along with the student.
The defensive item melted away in an instant and he was forcefully teleported away.
I cracked my neck.
“Now, is it 3 vs 4?”
“……”
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These guys gulped and took a few steps back.
I smiled obnoxiously.
“I’m just thinking… Have you brought us enough food to eat?”